Russia hinted on Wednesday that it may “soon” supply the Syrian regime with new missile defense systems, a prospect which had previously sparked fierce criticism from Israel.
Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Russia will supply Syria with "new missile defense systems soon." Rudskoi's statement did not specify the type of weapons, but his remarks follow reports in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria.
Top Russian officials said that in light of the airstrikes on Syria earlier this month, Moscow may reconsider a pledge it gave a decade ago not to provide Syria with the S-300 system.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that in wake of the strikes, Moocow no longer had a moral obligation to refrain from going ahead with supplying Syria with the system.
The strikes were in retaliation to an April 7 chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma, near Damascus, that killed more than 40 people.
The US, Britain and France blamed the attack on Bashar Assad's regime. The three governments launched airstrikes into Syria, hitting chemical weapons facilities.
Transferring upgraded air-defense systems to Syria could be seen as an escalation by neighboring Israel and raises the risk of Israeli attacks.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Tuesday that if Syria uses Russian-made air defense missiles against Israel, the Israeli army will strike back.
"What's important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria won't be used against us," Lieberman told Israeli news website Ynet. "If they're used against us, we'll act against them."
Israel’s air force has carried out dozens of airstrikes during the Syrian crises, most of them believed to have been aimed at arms shipments to Lebanon’s “Hezbollah”. More recently, Israel has warned that it will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria.
In February, Israel shot down an armed Iranian drone that penetrated its airspace from Syria. Israel responded by carrying out airstrikes in Syria, drawing anti-aircraft fire that shot down an Israeli warplane. Israel then retaliated by destroying Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.
Israel and Russia have maintained close contact in order to prevent any clashes between their air forces in the skies over Syria. In the interview, Lieberman said that Russia already has air-defense systems in Syria. He said Israel's concerns are Iran and Syria.
"For several years we've been constantly in coordination and able to avoid friction with the Russians," he told Ynet. "The only ones to act against us are the Syrians. When the Syrian systems acted against us, we destroyed them," the defense minister stressed.
"One thing should be clear. If anyone's shooting at our planes, we'll destroy them," he said.
